10,000 Users

14 August 2014

NZ's largest software supplier to the auto industry, TSI group, has achieved a major milestone in its growth, passing the number of 10,000 active users of its software systems.

"To say the organisation is delighted would be an understatement. Ten thousand users represents a huge proportion of the auto industry and is a massive collective achievement for our people," says group sales director, Paul Wilkinson.

Wilkinson says that TSI clients and users come from every area of the automotive industry.

TSI's workshop system SAM accounts for the biggest portion of TSI's users and makes up over one third of the total user base. SAM has a near 50% market share in its specialist sector, the independent repair and service after-market.

In the dealership space, TSI dominates across the board from smallest dealers to the largest groups with its Orion (small-medium) and Autoline (large) systems.

"Orion is easily the most popular dealer management system in New Zealand with well over 400 locations now installed and, after management changes and a refocus of strategies, Autoline is now gaining momentum in both dealer and distributor operations both in New Zealand and Australia," says Wilkinson.

"Although SAM still has the largest share of our total users at this point, in the next year or so both Orion and Autoline are likely to surpass it because of their enormous rates of growth", adds Wilkinson.

Increasingly TSI markets kiwi ingenuity to the world. Orion now operates in 24 countries with most of the recent growth in the Middle East and Africa.

"Currently overseas users make up about 10% of the total, but we forecast our overseas user base to quadruple in the next four years, mainly driven by Australian growth.

"To put this another way, we now expect to add close to the equivalent of our entire current overseas business every year going forward."

Wilkinson says that TSI Group is now in its 34th year serving the New Zealand automotive market. It grew from humble beginnings when founder, David Hendl, established Systime Computer Company in 1980.

TSI has largely grown organically – along with the occasional strategic acquisition – to now boast a staff of 65 working from offices in Sydney and Christchurch, in addition to the Auckland base.

Wilkinson adds: "We're also about to expand and take up more space in our Auckland premises in expectation of staff growth over coming years – mostly in our Penrose head office.

"We are absolutely committed to having consultants on the ground in the Australian market but we expect two of every three jobs created by Australian growth to actually be Auckland jobs, and we need the extra room because we predict another company milestone – 100 staff – around the end of 2018."

TSI recently achieved another target hitting overseas revenue of $1million in a year.